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Learning to co-produce? The perspective of public service professionals

Sanna Tuurnas (School of Management, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland)

International Journal of Public Sector Management

ISSN: 0951-3558

Article publication date: 12 October 2015

1507

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to report on how public service professionals cope with co-production as a way to produce and develop public services.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws on the literature of co-production and collaborative public service innovation. The research approach was an explorative case study, presenting a pilot neighbourhood co-production project.

Findings

Conflicting approaches to co-production with various implications are used simultaneously, causing uncertainly among the professional co-producers. When moving from rhetoric to practice there seems to be a lack of tools and methods for applying and utilising the possibilities of co-production. The processes of co-production and their implications should be thoroughly understood and managed throughout public service organisations, from politicians to frontline workers.

Practical implications

The paper demonstrates that co-production calls for renewed organisational structures and managerial tools, especially concerning the evaluation of co-production. Focal managerial, organisational, cultural and processual notions for supporting professional co-production are provided.

Originality/value

This paper makes an important contribution to the discussion of co-production, examining an important, yet understudied, perspective on public service professionals as co-producers.

Keywords

Citation

Tuurnas, S. (2015), "Learning to co-produce? The perspective of public service professionals", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 28 No. 7, pp. 583-598. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPSM-04-2015-0073

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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